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With Snow 'Coming Too Fast', Plow Drivers Gear Up For A Long Shift

Steve Zind
/
VPR
Plow driver Derek Flint adjusts a truck's chains at the Randolph VTrans garage on Wednesday.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation says conditions are hazardous on most state roads as plow trucks try to keep up with the storm bearing down on the state.

At the VTrans garage in Randolph, there are just enough drivers to staff the trucks they have. Foreman Jerold Kinney says they’ll all be working until the storm is over.  

“It’s coming too fast," Kinney says. "And if we try to leave it, it will be way too much to push when we come in in the morning.  They’ll be in here for probably 27 hours straight I would bet.”

"If we try to leave it, it will be way too much to push when we come in in the morning. They'll be in here for probably 27 hours straight I would bet." - Jerold Kinney, Randolph VTrans foreman

For plow driver Derek Flint, whose route includes stretches of a two-lane state highway around Randolph, the greatest challenge isn't the weather — it's dealing with motorists trying to get around his truck.

“Cars [are] the biggest problem," says Flint. "They try to go around you, beside you, next to you.  They pass in some pretty awful spots sometimes.”

Flint says the longest shift he’s had lasted two and a half days, but he says he loves the work.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
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